By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog

I admit. I am not humble. I have a nice body. Read the rest of this entry »

Just after Thanksgiving, the latest issue of Dialogue showed up in the mailbox. Just having finished everything except the personal essays, fiction and poetry (nothing against those sections…really), I offer some commentary on this quarter’s offerings. Read the rest of this entry »

Growing up in South Texas, my childhood was peppered with the colorful traditions of my Mexican heritage. Listening to mariachis at every restaurant, funeral, and midnight mass, learning folklorico dancing in my Catholic elementary, being constantly patted by old women to ward off el ojo, the evil eye. The vibrant mixture of religion and Mexican folk culture is something I’ve missed since leaving the Rio Grande Valley six years ago.

There have been quite a few discussions on the Bloggernacle lately about holiday traditions. Reading about your traditions inspired me to look up my own personal favorite and see if it existed anywhere nearby. So I googled “candlelight posada” and the entire first page of entries that popped up referred me to McAllen, my hometown. Years ago, as a sullen high school student waiting to leave my podunk town, I would have never dreamed that McAllen had the corner on the market of such a beautiful Christmas experience. Read the rest of this entry »

This afternoon, when my husband asked me to get my behind in gear and write a post, I decided to write about the implications for Mormon religious thought of the fact that behavior-determining mental illnesses have a biological basis. Then RT and I went out to purchase a Christmas tree, and I got cold. I got really, really cold. It was 10 degrees Fahrenheit outside. My lips went numb. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I was filling out an Obstetrical Pre-Admission Form, in case I decide or need to go to the hospital for the upcoming birth of our fifth child. It contained all the usual questions: next of kin, family doctor, referring midwife, etc. The one that gave me pause was, “Do you wish your religion listed on your chart?” I have only been a patient in the hospital twice before, and traditionally my response has been, “No, this is none of your business!” Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, my children came home from Primary with a handout listing scriptures to read on each of the 12 days of Christmas, beginning December 14. This irritates me mightily. The 12 days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day, and extend until January 6, when the season of Epiphany begins. December 14-24 properly belong to the season of Advent.

A little knowledge of the Christian calendar would help Mormons understand the rest of the Christian world better, and would also help to center our lives around religiously meaningful markers of time, rather than American cultural markers largely designed to increase material consumption.

That is all. Thank you for your attention.

Eight days ago, the bishop read a letter in sacrament meeting that instructed the members of our ward to attend a special meeting at the stake center for eight different wards from three stakes the following Sunday. The boundaries were to be changed (Note to church administrators: in the future, I recommend not giving speculative lead time). Yesterday, after much instruction heralding the inspiration of the imminent changes, the boundaries were revealed. Then a voice of wailing was heard out of Zion: “How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.” Read the rest of this entry »

In the Church today, there seem to be two views on when Jesus was born. The majority view is that he was born on April 6, 1 B.C. A strong minority view takes an agnostic approach, that we don’t know when Jesus was born, but that 1 B.C. is too late. The majority view has strong GA support (B.H. Roberts, James Talmage, Harold B. Lee and Spencer W. Kimball–a winning hand in most games of GA Texas Hold ‘em). One of the few GAs of recent memory to take a non-dogmatic, agnostic position is, surprisingly, Bruce R. McConkie (post Mormon Doctrine). At the scholarly level, the debate has played out in a book published by John Lefgren, April Sixth, a negative critique by Brown, Griggs and Hansen of BYU, and a response by John Pratt (the science editor of Meridian Magazine), which played out in the pages of BYU Studies. You are welcome to discuss this debate here if you like, although it is not actually the subject of this post. Read the rest of this entry »

Many a Christmas card or carol contains the words of the angels from KJV Luke 2:14: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Virtually all modern translations offer a different rendering, however. Consider, for instance, the following: Read the rest of this entry »